SF Gun Ban: While the U. S. Supreme Court ponders D.C.'s gun ban in the Heller case, the California Supreme Court denied review to a Court of Appeal decision striking down San Francisco's. The basis was not the Second Amendment, though, but the more mundane issue of preemption. This is a matter of state law, not local ordinance. The AP story is here. The Court of Appeal opinion in Fiscal v. San Francisco, A115018 (1/9/2008), is here for the time being but will scroll off in a few weeks.

Airline Bomb Plot: Daniel Henninger has this column in the WSJ on the trial of would-be airline bombers in Britain, a reminder of the importance of being able to intercept terrorist communications.

CA District Attorneys and GOP legislators are introducing a package of bills which will speed up the enforcement of the death penalty. Sacramento Bee reporter Andy Furillo reports that, if adopted, the reforms will cut time time from sentencing to execution for most capital murderers in half. Proponents, which include victims groups, do not expect the Democrat-controlled legislature to pass the bills. They plan to put them before the voters as a ballot initiative in 2010.